Twitter has become an absolute must for marketing (I love using it), and re-tweeting is one of its most powerful aspects. But I’m finding that quite a few of my clients want to know how to harness that power and get more re-tweets.
So I thought I’d share with you my top five tips for getting the most out of Twitter from the power of the re-tweet.
1. Build relationships with people
You may be tweeting in a virtual environment, but it’s not a vacuum. Work on creating genuine and mutually beneficial relationships with those you follow and those who follow you. If you take a genuine interest in them and maintain regular contact, they will do the same for you.
2. Re-tweet other people’s messages
Twitter is not about just sending out copious sales messages and hoping they are read. One-way broadcasting is definitely not the way to go, so be generous and re-tweet the messages that other people post (particularly if they are relevant to your particular audience). Support others and they will be much more likely to support you.
3. Stand out from the crowd
Also known as ‘think before you tweet’! You might have had a nice lunch, but does anyone need to hear about it? Is it adding any value? Boring, irrelevant messages do not get re-tweeted. Messages that contain interesting content, opinions or humour do – all good angles to try if you want to boost your re-tweet rate.
4. Make it easy for people to re-tweet your messages
You have 140 characters to play with, but if you use them all it makes it difficult for people to re-tweet without editing some of your message. So aim to limit your tweet to around 100 characters – this gives other people space for the RT and the opportunity to add their own comment in support of your message. Endorsements are valuable and give important extra impact
5. Ask for it!
It’s amazing how many people forget to ask for the RT. You’ll be surprised by the impact a simple ‘Please RT’ can have – try it and see how much wider your audience becomes.
How well does Twitter work for you? I’d love to hear if the power of re-tweeting has had an impact on your business.